Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact

This Article

The Tokyo Trials Affidavit prepared by Lieutenant-General KAYAJIMA, Takashi

By KAYAJIMA, Takashi,

1
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL
FOR THE FAR EAST
Court House of the Tribunal
War Ministry Building
Tokyo, Japan Date: Friday, 25 April, 1947
Affidavit prepared by Lieutenant-General KAYAJIMA, Takashi, commander of the Tianjin Infantry Unit, the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese China Garrison Army.
(Def. Doc. No. 1090, translated by Defense Language Branch)
Mr. Levin(defense lawyer): I read the affidavit of the witness:
I was formerly a lieutenant-general in the Japanese army. At present lives at 1784, Takanabe, Miyazaki Prefecture. From March in the 10th year of Showa(1935) to November in the 12th year of Showa(1937) I served as the Commander of the Tientsin Infantry Unit and Commander of the 2nd Infant Regiment in China. I was stationed in Tientsin most of the period. On July 28, 1937, I took post in the fighting in Nanyan south of Peking, as commander of the main regiment. On the evening of that day, we assembled at Fentai and, on the following day, the 29th, we advanced to a point near Tatsing village and awaited further order there. At 3:00 a.m. on the 30th, I was ordered to rescue the Japanese people in Tung-Chow, where a disturbance had broken out. I hurried to Tong-Chow at 3:30 a.m., at the head of the main regiment.
At that time the Kih-Tung government was located in Tung-Chow, and about 700 or 800 Japanese and Korean people lived there. Soldiers of the first Infantry Regiment, numbering about one platoon, were stationed there for the protection of the Japanese residents.
I heard that s disturbance had occurred in Tung-Chow, but I did not know at the time what sort of disturbance it had been. However, I was informed that Japanese people had been slaughtered. On the 29th, a fire broke out in the vicinity of Tung-Chow and black smoke could be seen rising high.
I therefore knew that something unusual had happened there.
We hurried there without taking rest.
We arrived at Tung-Chow at 4 p.m. since we had got fragmentary information before we arrived to the effect that many Japanese people in Tung-Chow had been slaughtered, and that the Japanese Garrison there was having a hard fight and was at the brink of complete destruction.
2
Seeing that our unit had arrived at Tung-Chow, the enemy retreated to the northeast and hid. Therefore we entered Tung-Chow without a struggle.
Within the wall, we found the very tragic sight of the abandoned corpses of ill-fated Japanese residents. The necks of most of the corpses were bound with rope. The corpses of innocent children and butchered bodies of women were such that the sight was almost unbearable. Astonished and indignant we hurried to the Japanese Garrison.
The Japanese Garrison consisted of 30 soldiers. The total number of Japanese soldiers there, including an additional 60 soldiers belonging to an automobile unit was about 100. Attacked and closely besieged by 3,000 Chinese soldiers, they had a bitter struggle. Fortunately, however, sheltered in a stone building, they had narrowly escsped complete destruction. There were 20 soldiers who had been killed or wounded.
Immediately by my order, the gate of the wall was closed, search was started within the wall, and remnants of the Japanese people there were gathered together. Only 150 out of 700 or 800 Japanese residents assembled. 350 Japanese were found dead. It was unknown where the remaining 200 or 300 Japanese residents had gone, or whether they had been slaughtered.
At that time I inquired into details of the incident and reported them to the proper authorities.
I have no records of this report now. Therefore, in the following account I shall, rely upon the memory of what I witnessed. The impression of the miserable sight is unforgettable and will remain in my memory for the rest of my life.
1. I saw a restaurant called Asahi-ken. There 7 0r 8 women aged between 17 or 18 and 40 had all been stripped of their clothing, raped, and shot to death. The private parts of 4 or 5 of them had been thrust through with bayonets. At the entrance of the house, boy in school uniform aged 12 or 13, had been shot dead. Within the house, there was no furniture, beddings or clothing, etc., everything had been looted.
2. The corpses of Japanese men who had been shot or stabbed to death remained in the buildings which had housed business firms and public offices. Almost all of them seemed to have been pulled about with ropes around their necks. Blood was splattered on the walls. Those scenes were beyond description.
3. In the case of Kinsuiro, the sight was appalling. It seemed to be the place where Japanese residents in Tung-Chow, sensing imminent danger had gathered together. They had been massacred on a large scale. Household articles had been scattered about near the front door and entrance, nearly all valuable articles had been stolen, and 4 male guests staying there had been shot to death in a parlour. It was said
3
that the proprietress and the maids at Kinsuiro had been tied together, roped with their hand and feet bound finally be headed.
4. Three Japanese, a husband and wife, and their baby, had hidden above the ceiling and narrowly escaped danger. The husband told me that they had witnessed beneath them the slaughter of one Japanese after another.

BACK TO
PAGE TOP